Spring Song Liberamente
by ScarletLuna082
Summary: Ai is sent to Saotome Academy to complete his training to become an idol: to learn how to sing songs with love, an emotion he lacks thereof. With the help of his composer partner Haruka, he slowly learns about this mysterious emotion love and perhaps along the way, experience love himself, maybe even break the no dating ban.
1. April: A Dissonant Meeting Pt 1

**Hello there! If you're wondering, this is an AU following the format of the first Utapri game having chapters from April-March and an epilogue. I'll try to incorporate much of Ai's backstory that will fit with this storyline. So anyways, enjoy~!**

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Ai didn't understand why he had to come to this place. Why in the word did a robot like him need to come to an academy? People in uniforms kept passing him by as he stood there motionless at the entrance.

Even if Professor and Shining told him to come here, well for Shining he forced him here, Ai didn't believe he would gain anything from here, Saotome Academy.

According to his data, Saotome Academy is an academy made by Shining to raise future idols and composers and is especially known for its low acceptance rate. So only a chosen few can really attend this school, everyone who got accepted here has talent, only to the admission.

Ai of course got in via audition and tests, Shining wasn't that nice to let him in without proper examination.

Ai sighed, for someone who's prestigious in singing, dancing, and even composing, this academy was a waste of time. At least it was only for a year.

It was only 20 minutes and 13 seconds before the new student assembly in the auditorium was about to take place.

"Why am I here this early anyways?" Ai mumbles to himself.

Seeing no use in just standing right at the entrance Ai decided to walk further into the academy. As he was about to take a step he felt something, no, _someone_ bounce off of his back.

He turns around and looks down to see a girl with orange short hair, wearing the same uniform as him, sitting on the ground. Why is this girl sitting on the ground? Ai pondered only for a second and came to the conclusion of this was the thing that bounced off of my back.

Ai kept staring down at her, not lending her a helping hand. The girl swiftly looks up, her yellow-green eyes widen, and then hastily stands up.

"I-I'm sorry for bumping in to you!" She bows deeply.

She bumped into me? How is that possible? In his head many questions popped up. He was tall, 178 cm is pretty tall but how can she not see him?

"How can you bump into me? Were you daydreaming or something?" Ai questions her.

The girl swiftly straightens her back. Ai thought she would answer him straight away with her quick movements but her eyes were moving all over the place, her gaze down at the ground.

"I-I'm sorry." She stutters again. Her shoulders elevated, her arms in front of her chest, hunching over, making herself look small.

She apologizes rather than answering his questions. Ai sighs, this girl better not be planning to become an idol , he thought, she was pretty but her personality is lacking, way too lacking, she was too nervous.

"Well be careful." He says as he turns around to walk towards the auditorium. He'd rather be right on time than early but if things like these happen, might as well try to avoid them.

"Ah wait!" he hears the girl call out.

Ai only turns his head towards the side, "What?"

Her body shrinks in size again, "U-uh, we're you hurt anywhere?"

Hurt? How can I get hurt by just being bumped? Why was this girl caring, he was a robot. But the fact that he's a robot is top secret, he couldn't say that.

"I'm fine." Ai turns back around and starts to walk again only to have the girl come right in front of him.

"Are you really okay?" This time the girl looks at him straight in the eye.

Why was she so pushy? Ai already stated he was fine, he didn't get why she came to ask about this again.

Ai sighs, "There is no way someone that is 158.7 cm tall leave even a dent on my body just by bumping into me."

The girl looks back down again and shrinks, "Ah, I'm sorry."

Ai waited for another reaction but the orange haired girl kept looking down. Usually when he states the height of strangers he gets a surprised look on their face but this girl didn't even react to her stated height. Weird.

13 minutes and 41 seconds left until the opening speech in the auditorium. He used up 6 minutes and 32 seconds on her, time that could've been used to walk to the auditorium all wasted on this girl.

Ai walks around the girl, leaving without saying a word. If he starts talking again, he doesn't know when she'll stop talking.

What a way to start his first day here.

The opening speech from the principal, Shining Saotome was as extravagant as usual, Ai could care less about his speech. The only thing that he got from that speech was the rule "No dating allowed". Once Shining said that, the air around the auditorium seemed to have changed, in Ai's mind.

Dating, a relationship between commonly a guy and a girl that's deeper than friendship, the two 'love' each other more than friends. Ai didn't understand that concept, love. He was able to grasp a little at many other feelings humans felt like sadness and madness but not things like happiness or things like love, a complex human emotion. That's the reason why Ai is here in this academy, to actually learn to love and be loved, grasp human emotions better.

Shining had Professor make a song robot because he wanted an idol robot, he wanted to see if that was possible. So thus Professor made Ai. It was a lengthy process but Professor was able to make Ai talk, walk, sing, and dance; he was _almost_ perfect. Shining noticed the lack of emotion in Ai, without emotions, the robot wouldn't be able to deliver songs that touched people's hearts, it was pretty yes, but it didn't waver emotions.

Even though he worked hard through training to become an idol, Shining believed that it was better for him to try out to get into Saotome Academy to actually learn to convey more emotions through his song and learn more about human emotions. Ai didn't understand why it was necessary for him to go to school, he thought he was perfect: he knew how to compose and arrange, he can sing notes correctly and in the correct rhythm, there were no faults to him, but Shining and Professor kept pressing him about taking the test and auditioning so Ai eventually agreed.

And Ai comes to this academy only to have Shining just sternly states that no dating was allowed. Now how was he to learn about love if this Academy has a strict rule of no dating? Shining was one mysterious man.

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 **I hope you enjoyed this! See you in the next chapter!**


	2. April: A Dissonant Meeting Pt 2

Right after the speech all the students went to their respective classrooms that they were placed in from the audition and tests to get into the academy. Ai was placed in the elite S class, which didn't surprise him. He had more than enough skills to be placed in the S class.

He slides the door open and enters the loud classroom. People, no, his classmates were already making clicks, introducing themselves, saying whether they were here to be a composer or an idol. Ai had no interest in that so he sat in an empty seat.

5 minutes and 49 seconds until the teacher was to come into the classroom. He was early again. Ai glosses over at each group in the classroom, to know that he was going to get a partner from this group of people didn't sit well in his stomach. He can compose his own songs anyways, he'd be the one giving all the advice to his composer partner that all the time used to point out faults could be used to make his own song for the audition at the end of the year.

The door to the classroom slides open again and the same girl Ai saw this morning walks into the classroom very timidly.

Great, now this orange haired girl was in his classroom. But he was surprised that she was in the elite class; how in the world does this shy girl had the talent to enter this class?

As he kept staring at her, she turns her head towards him and their eyes meet. Ai immediately turns his gaze away from her, he didn't want to deal with that girl again but it was too late, the timid girl was already heading his way.

He sees a pair of feet come into his view, a small set of red flats paired with black socks come into his vision. He tried to ignore her for a couple of seconds but the girl did not move from where she was. He sighs and looks up to see the timid girl standing there, shrunken up body, her arms in her chest.

"Um…I'm sorry about this morning." She says, not stuttering, but still in that quiet tone of voice.

The robot wondered why this girl was still on the topic that happened an hour, 12 minutes, and 23 seconds ago. If he went with the data he collected from his interaction with her earlier, saying 'he's fine' wasn't an option, he had to try to say something different.

He looks out the window, "It's not a problem," he states in his monotone voice, "you don't have to worry about it, nobody was hurt in the process."

He thought she would leave with those words but judging from what he can see from his peripheral vision, the girl still stood in front of him.

"Is there something you still need?" He turns back to the girl, lifting a brow.

She starts to look around, trying to find an answer. Gosh what does this girl want?

"Is there something of the matter lady?"

A guy with strawberry blond hair wraps an arm around the girl's shoulder to which the girl immediately tenses up. Ai immediately notices he wears his uniform very loosely, the top couple of buttons on his shirt wasn't buttoned, his tie was just the same, loosely on, he didn't where the jacket but wore a black vest. Ai saw that Ren had pierced ears which confused him. According to his database usually females only pierce their ears.

Ai's database pulled up a file from his memories using his face recognition system, he was the third child from the Jinguuji family, a very prestigious group. Ai wondered why such a rich boy was here at Saotome Academy.

"Oh? What's the matter? Did this scare you a bit?" the guy looks at her face in curiosity.

"Ren can't you see that she's acting like that because of you?" a piercing voice tone entered the conversation.

A short boy with blond hair came walking towards them. Unlike that strawberry blond guy, Ren, this short boy was what Ai believed was called 'fashionable' , well at least better than that guy. His shirt and tie was exposed from the cardigan? Sweater? He rolled his sleeves up and had a hat on, he too had pierced ears. Ai added to his database that males also pierce their ears.

"Sorry about that lady," he removes his arm off of her, "but I'm amazed you could see that Ochibi-chan."

"I have a name you know!" He yelled at the strawberry blond, no by the looks of this his name was Ren, "My name is Syo, Kurusu Syo!"

Ai looks at the person who called himself Syo, he was short but had a lot of energy, similar to small animals, they tend to have a lot of energy.

"Hello Syo-kun, my name is Nanami Haruka." The orange haired girl bowed.

He didn't introduce himself to you, Ai thought, what was this girl, thinking?

Syo was slightly taken back by the sudden introduction but quickly smiles, "Nice to meet you Nanami, can I call you that?"

The orange haired girl, Haruka, stutters again, "O-oh I'm f-fine with that."

Syo was about to say something but was cut off by Ren, "Then will you be fine with calling you 'little lamb'?"

Haruka becomes flustered, "Uh, well, um…"

"Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Jinguuji Ren." He gives her a wink,"And you are?" Ren looks over to Ai.

"Mikaze Ai." Ai states bluntly.

"Wow, that's a really pretty name Mikaze-san." Haruka's eyes twinkle.

Pretty? That's the last thing Ai would think of about his name. His name was weird, why would Professor name him Ai? Name a robot Ai when the robot needs to learn about love, ironic.

"By the way did Tokiya come in yet?" Syo looks at Ren.

"Ikki? Don't think he has just—"

The sound of the door sliding open enters Ai's ears and in comes a very surprising face.

"There he is." Ren finished his sentence.

"Hayato-sama?" Ai heard Haruka mumble.

The whole class started to buzz, phrases like 'Isn't that Hayato?', 'What is Hayato doing here?' comes into his ears. He was thinking the same thing, according to his database, the person who just came in, dark blue spiky hair and those blue eyes, his face recognition system points that he's the famous idol Hayato yet that calm demeanor is the exact opposite of Hayato.

"I believe that many of you think I am the idol Hayato but I'm not." He spoke out, "My name is Ichinose Tokiya, I am the twin brother of Hayato."

Now I don't need to research about this as much anymore, Ai thought. He still had to research around if Hayato actually had a twin brother, it might be slightly hard knowing the fact that Hayato doesn't reveal much about his private life.

He sees Haruka, who looked let down with the situation. Why was she so down? It's just a person.

"Alright! Sit down you guys!" a guy with spiky light orange hair in a black suit came walking into the classroom.

The students squirmed into a seat, unluckily, Haruka sat right next to Ai.

"I'm gonna be the homeroom teacher for this class, the name's Hyuuga Ryuuya." He says with his arms crossed and smiles, "Hope we have a good year together."

Hyuuga Ryuuya, according to Ai's database, he was an idol under Shining Agency. He's most known for the drama Kenka no Ouji-sama, he hasn't been on TV much and does a lot of paperwork over at the agency.

"You guys know that this class has both idols and composers right?" He asks, "Each idol gets a composer partner and work together to make a song for the audition graduation at the end of the year but first it's better to get to know each other so we're starting off with introductions."

Ai really didn't want a partner, he knew how the school worked, but a mediocre composer working with him? Outrageous. He told Shining before that he didn't want a partner but Shining straight out ignored his request, it seemed impossible to go without a partner in this school. Even if the partner quit you'd have to find another partner, you could go alone but you might fail the graduation audition, and Shining specifically told him he couldn't graduate without a partner.

"Anyone wanna go first?"

"I'll go!" Syo's voice cuts through the room.

Hyuuga-sensei gives Syo a nod.

"Alright!" Syo stands up, "The name's Kurusu Syo..."

Ai didn't bother to listen to every detail of each introduction, only things he needed to know.

Syo was 15 and was skilled in karate, Ren was 17 and can play the sax, Tokiya or possibly Hayato was 16 and doesn't have a specialty instrument but was good at singing, Ai can admit that after his demonstration. Haruka as usual had a very stuttering introduction, and Ai kept his short and simple.

Introductions were done, taking 7 minutes and 34 seconds, pretty long for introductions. Ai sighed internally, he wished he didn't had to sit through all of that. Ai was going to keep passively listening to everything but what Hyuuga said peaked his interest.

"Alright now that we've all introduced ourselves, time for picking partners." Ryuuya grabbed a box.

Ai sat up. Even though he knew nobody in this class would be a worthy partner for him, might as well listen up, who knows, they might implement a new rule: being able to change partners or even better, go partnerless. But Ai remembered Shining's words, he couldn't go partnerless.

"So we're gonna pick—"

"Not so fast Ryuuya-san~!" A voice boomed in the classroom.

The whole class jumped and started to look around the classroom to find the source of the sound.

"Where the hell is he now?" Ryuuya said as he frantically searched the classroom.

"Window." Ai pointed at the window behind Ryuuya. It was only a guess but if Shining wanted to make a grand appearance just like what he did at the assembly today, Ai thought the window would have the correct choice.

"Wha- president don't—"

The President, or rather the school principal crashed through the window and valiantly laughed.

"Leave the partner picking to _me~_ Ryuuya-san." Shining Saotome gave a large smile to the whole class.

Ai was amazed that Shining came out from that crash without a scratch. This room wasn't on the first floor so how did he get up here? Is he even athletic? Ai thought, by the looks of his protruding belly, Ai wanted to conclude no, but this person is wrapped in mysteries. For example, why was he wearing sunglasses indoors?

"Can you please come in normally?" Ryuuya sighed.

Shining pointed his finger at Ai, "Mr. Mikaze because you have guessed where I would appear from, you shall be the first one to be chosen a partner by me~!"

Ai sat in his chair, expressionless. Fine, he'll let Shining choose his partner, but his partner will suffer if they're mediocre, he will get them in shape as a better composer, even if that means they would have to rewrite what they composed for them. Or maybe just turn them down right on the spot. Yes, that sounded better. He smirked.

"Okay, who's my partner Shining?" Ai asked as he sat back on his chair.

Shining's sunglasses gleamed for a split second, "Your partner will be," he moves his finger one seat over to Ai's right, "Miss Nanami!"

"Excuse me?" Ai turns his head towards Haruka.

He sees she's in shock, speechless, at the fact. That goes the same for Ai but her? As his partner? Ai thought it was illogical, from all the information he gathered from her actions, she is not a suitable partner for him.

"Shining can I have a—"

"Next~!" Shining completely disregards Ai.

Ryuuya notices Ai's failed attempt to get Shining's attention and tells Ai, "The president barely listens to anyone seriously so you shouldn't try Mikaze."

Ai sighs, true, Ryuuya's question was completely ignored when Shining appeared in the classroom. Ai looks back at Haruka again who now was looking at him too.

Once her brain comprehends that they were looking at each other she scrambles to face her whole body towards him,"U-um, please take care of me!"

She sticks her hand out, bowing down.

Ai looks down at the hand. He knew she isn't the partner worthy of him, by his calculations the chance of making a good song for the graduation audition is close to zero. She is a waste of time for him.

Probably because he took a long time in taking her hand, Haruka looks up to see what was wrong.

Ai keeps his poker face and says, "I'm not your partner."

Haruka gives him a confused look, "B-but the Principal—"

"I don't think you have what it takes to be my partner." Ai cut her off, better to get to the point rather than beating around the bush.

"Ah— but—"

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Ai asked again.

She shook her head.

"Then just—"

"We just met so I don't think you can judge me!" Haruka blurted out.

Ai's eyes widened. He didn't expect this girl to actually go against him, this was completely different from what he actually calculated out, and by her personality she would agree with the words and not talk back. This was not normal to him but to Ai seemed like a very interesting to study, how long would it take for this girl to give up?

He sees that Haruka kept her eyes on him, he saw confidence in her eyes, they weren't wavering like when she bumped into him.

Interesting.

"I'll give you a month." Ai looks back to the front of the class.

"Huh?"

"One month to give me a piece of music that will prove that you're worthy of being my partner."

"Yes! I'll do my best!" she sounded what Ai can say was 'enthusiastic'.

Let's see if she'll stay like that, Ai thought.

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 **April is done! I had quite a fight with myself how to refer to Hyuuga Ryuuya lol. Ryuuya does refer to Ai as Ai in the games but he's a student here so I went with the 'referring to his students by their last name', Ryuuya will refer to Ai as Mikaze.**

 **I'm not sure how often I'll update, hopefully not too slow. Anyways, hope you have a great day~! See you in the next chapter!**


	3. May: Sentito Song

**Sorry guys for the really late update! MASSIVE writer's block hit me and words just didn't word well and I can't let myself post a terrible chapter so... Anyways enjoy~!**

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Today was the sports festival in Saotome Academy, which Ai thought was completely useless. Why was there a festival for sports? And why did Shining put weird twists to all of these events?

Ai participated in tug-o-war, which surprisingly wasn't the last thing in the set list. But this was no simple tug-o-war, right in the middle was a huge hole filled with something Ai didn't know and rather not want to know. Luckily the match ended as a tie for him and Natsuki, Syo's roommate and in class A, they were evenly matched in strength, or that's what Ai got from his data during the tug-o-war.

Ai sighed as he leaned against a tree, watching the crazy event unfold in front of him. He didn't have anything else to do so might as well see Masato from class A and Ren's dynamic in whatever this event was in the sports festival.

"Is someone sitting next to you?" a soft spoken high toned voice entered his ear.

Ai looks up to see Haruka standing in front of him,

"No." Ai answers.

She hesitates slightly before she lowers herself on the ground next to him. She fidgets with her fingers for awhile awkwardly looking away from Ai. If this girl is going to do something she better do it now, Ai thought.

"Um…you really gave a fight against Shinomiya-san, Mikaze-san." Haruka strikes up a conversation.

"Yeah." Ai says nonchalantly as he kept looking straight ahead of him.

The conversation between the two of them ends there, that was a waste of 7 seconds. Ai boringly stares at the ongoing verbal fight between Ren and Masato. Ai couldn't hear the exact words they were saying because the two were 2.94 feet away from the edge of his hearing range.

"I've heard that Shinomiya-san is pretty strong so I was surprised that the match ended up as a tie." Haruka's voice enters his ear.

Is she still trying? "Yeah."

The girl doesn't pursue the topic any further.

"Did you happen to find out what was in that large hole in the middle?"

"No."

She goes silent again.

"Are you in any other events?"

"No."

Silence.

Why was she asking these questions? To Ai these questions would not do any justice to her if she keeps going on with them. It sounded unnecessary to Ai, knowing that she now has 6 days, 3 hours, 45 minutes, and 19 seconds left until the one month period of trying to overturn his words of her not worthy of being his partner. She hasn't given him anything to him the past 23 days, 20 hours, 14 minutes, and 41 seconds, she doesn't have much time left, but what does he care? He doesn't want a partner so this was good news to him.

"Um…Mikaze-san?" the composer spoke up once more.

"What now?" Ai raised his voice.

"I-I was wondering if you have time today to listen to my composition." She stutters as she looks down at her knees.

Ai blinked, the robot thought this girl would try to start another unnecessary conversation but she actually said something necessary. So she did finish, he thought.

"Do you have any events after this?" Ai asked.

"No." she shook her head.

Perfect, Ai thought, the sooner he listens to her composition now the sooner he can throw this partner away and the sooner her could find a new partner, as much as he hated having a partner.

Ai grabs her wrist and stands up, pulling Haruka up with him.

"Wha—?"

"We're going to an open classroom right now to listen to what you made." Ai starts walking towards the school.

"B-but that means we're ditching!" Haruka says as she gets dragged by Ai.

Ai abruptly stops and turns to Haruka who was regaining her balance, "Ditching?" That was the first time he heard that word before.

"You know, not attending class!" Haruka exclaims looking very worried.

Ai cocks his head to the right, "But we don't have class right now so we aren't ditching right?"

She opens her mouth, but then closes it and nods slowly, still looking very worried.

"Then that means we aren't ditching. C'mon." Ai proceeded to drag Haruka into the school.

* * *

Ai led Haruka to the S class, which was completely empty of course, since everyone was participating in the sports festival. He pulled Haruka all the way to the piano and made her sit on the seat.

Haruka being forced to do all of this looks at Ai confused.

"What are you waiting for? Play what you composed." Ai leans against the wall right next to the piano.

"O-okay." Haruka opened up the piano to reveal the black and white keys.

She repositioned herself so her right foot was in front of the 3 pedals of the piano and hovered her fingers above the white keys. He hears Haruka take in a deep breath in, he sees her shoulders relax after she lets the air out, and her eyes look down at the piano keys, full of determination, unwavering.

Then she presses down a key on the piano, letting the first grace notes ring throughout the empty classroom.

Ai stood up straight, moving himself away from the wall. She delivered more than he expected, it still wasn't good and there were many points to fix even after she played for 37 seconds but he was, awestruck. Each note she played, each key she hit on the piano, the more he felt something from this composition, something warm in his chest, just something. Ai placed a hand over his chest, what was he feeling right now? What was he experiencing right now?

"Um…how was it Mikaze-san?" Haruka's voice stops his train of thought.

Ai realizes he was looking down and looks up to Haruka, who seemed to be waiting for him to say something. When did she stop playing? How long was he thinking for? For the first time Ai lost track of time, he got lost into another person's music, or that's what he thinks he did. This was a first for him so he didn't understand what just happened, so many questions popped in his head. Ai had to calm down before he starts to overheat with so much things to take in and comprehend.

"Mikaze-san?" he heard Haruka call out his name.

Ai was for sure of one thing, Haruka is the answer to complete his task of singing with emotion and her music should give him the answer. He couldn't let her go as a partner as much as he hated admitting it, he thought Haruka was a competent partner.

"There's a lot of things that needs work." Ai finally said.

"Oh." Haruka looks down, "Was it not good enough?"

"I wasn't done with my sentence." Ai said.

Haruka looks up, curious to what he was going to say.

"There's a lot of things that needs work," Ai repeats what he said before, "but it's good enough."

"So does that mean?" Haruka's eyes started to twinkle.

Did she really need a confirmation? Ai thought his words were enough to state that he accepted her as his partner.

"Yes, you can be my partner," Ai sighs, he might as well state it, "do you really needed me to say it explicitly?"

She shakes her head, "It's not that, I just couldn't believe that—"

"Is someone there?" Ryuuya's voice came from the hallway, he was still far away from the classroom but it was a matter of time until he comes here.

Ai was slightly baffled at why Ryuuya was here in the hallways. The sports festival was still going on and if he remembered correctly, shouldn't their instructor be over there at the field and not here in the school building?

"What should we do?" Haruka whispers, starting to panic, "we're going to get caught if we stay out here!"

Even if Ai knew very little about school life the one thing Ai knew for sure was that getting caught doing anything in secret was bad and the solution to preventing from being caught, was to hide.

He quickly searches the room to find somewhere to hide: the cabinets were too small for them, the piano wasn't the optimal hiding spot, they'd be found in no time, time kept ticking and Ai couldn't find a good place to hide until something enters his eyes, a locker.

It was tall enough for him and Haruka to hide in and barely wide enough for the two of them to fit in it. This will do for the time being, Ai thought. He proceeds to grab Haruka's wrist and pulls her up from the piano chair and rushes towards the locker. He stuffs Haruka in first them pushes himself into the cramped space, closing the locker door shut.

"Don't talk." Ai whispers to Haruka who is up against his body because of the lack of space in the locker.

He sees her move a bit in the cramped space when her foot hits the locker wall, emitting a metallic clang sound that was actually louder than Ai thought it would be. He wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her closer so she doesn't hit any other place in the locker that would reveal their hiding spot. Ai knew Haruka can mess up at the most important times at least 85% of the time, judging by his past observations so he couldn't let her mess up now.

They hear the classroom door slide open.

"Anyone here?" Ryuuya's voice echoes through the empty classroom.

Ai hears the sound of the footsteps start to get louder as Ryuuya approaches the locker. Ai tightens his grip on Haruka to keep her from moving even the slightest bit.

"Guess I was hearing things." Ryuuya says and the sound of his footsteps starts to get quieter, then the classroom door slides shut.

The robot keeps his ears pealed, waiting for a few seconds to make sure Ryuuya was actually gone from the room.

"Alright coast's clear." Ai sighs out.

Was this the time that you can call "to be thrilling"? Ai actually enjoyed hiding from someone, not knowing if they would catch them.

"M-mikaze-san…" Haruka's stuttering voice enters his ear.

Ai forgot about Haruka's existence for a couple of seconds, another first, forgetting the existence of someone.

"Right, let's get out of here." he said but as he was going to open the locker door he noticed Haruka's heartbeat was faster than normal and from his angle her face was red.

"Do you have a fever Haruka?" Ai asked, that was the only logical answer he could get from her symptoms.

"Huh? N-n-no!" Haruka tried to move away from Ai but she couldn't for some strange reason.

Ai looked at her confused, "You're face is red, how is it not a fever?"

"I-I'm fine." Haruka insists, "Can you let go of me please?"

Ai remembers he had her arm around her, that's why she couldn't move away from him. He swiftly lets her body go and the two of them step out of the locker.

Ai pats himself down then remembers that Haruka was say right before Ryuuya came in. He didn't like incomplete thoughts staying incomplete.

"You were about to say something," Ai said, "what were you going to say?"

"Wha-?" Haruka jerks her head up.

Ai sees that she's still flustered, what was wrong with her?

"Before Hyuuga-sensei came in, you said 'I just couldn't believe', believe what?" Ai gestures with his hand to have her complete the sentence.

Her amber eyes show that she was drawing a blank. Did this girl forget something that just happened?

"O-oh!" Haruka's eyes lit up, she seemed to recall the event, "I didn't believe that you would say yes so I'm really happy that you did."

Happy, weird, Ai thought, why would someone find that happy? He just said yes to her composition, how does that release dopamine to the brain?

Putting that aside Ai, needs to make up the time from the past month they haven't practiced together. If he was going to partner up with her until the audition they needed to be in perfect shape and the two of them aren't even close to 10% ready, much to Ai's dismay.

"You're free after school right?" Ai asks.

Haruka nods, "Yes, I am."

"Alright, we're going to practice after school together starting tomorrow." Ai says, "Don't be late partner-san."

Haruka's eyes twinkle and nods eagerly, "Yes, I will not be late Mikaze-san!"

Ai notices her reddened cheeks were back to normal. So it wasn't a fever.

* * *

 **When Ai hid in the locker with Haruka in ASAS I found it pretty cute how Ai actually liked the thrill of hiding. Hope you guys have a great week. School must be starting very soon for some so good luck in school!**


	4. June: A Problem with Ausdruck

Today was a singing test and Ai felt confident that he would pass easily, his singing was perfect since he was a robot after all.

"Alright Mikaze, you're up next." Hyuuga gestured him to go into the booth.

Ai nodded and walked into the booth. He stood in front of the mic and grabbed the headphones, putting it on.

He looks over at Hyuuga and he gives him a nod.

Music started to enter through his "ears" and 2 bars before his entrance; he took a deep breath and came in, perfectly in tune.

He kept his rhythm perfect, notes in tune, added vibrato when he thought it was necessary. Easy.

The music came to an end and Ai took off the headphones, walking out of the booth to where Hyuuga was.

When he entered the other side of the recording studio, he saw Haruka there. Good choice for her to be there, she'll get to figure any nuances in his singing, which he does have occasionaly but not as often as the people in this academy.

"Alright, you pass." Hyuuga said with a slightly contorted face.

Ai raised a brow, "Is there something wrong? I passed didn't I?"

Hyuuga rubs the back of his neck, slightly uneasy, "You have the same thing as Ichinose, you two sing grossly perfect songs yet it lacks raw emotion."

"Emotion…" Ai repeated.

There goes that phrase again.

"Everyone who has enough training can sing a song perfectly but what gets CD's off the shelves is a song that hits right here," Hyuuga hit the middle of his chest with a fist, "songs that are able to grab people's hearts are the ones that sell the best."

Ai keeps staring at Hyuuga.

"Well anyways," Hyuuga broke the silence, "you passed so, you're fine to leave."

* * *

As Ai and Haruka practiced that afternoon, Hyuuga's words kept bothering Ai. Singing with emotion? What difference would that make? How can one convey emotions through song? Ai ruled that this was going to be a difficult task to accomplish considering he had a very vague grasp at emotions, he can say it's better than before, but completely out of league with humans.

"Mikaze-san?" Haruka's voice brought him back to reality.

"Oh, what do you need?" Ai asks, letting his system process his thoughts more.

Her face seemed to have some concern, "Is Hyuuga-sensei's words bothering you?"

The robot nods, "I personally think there's nothing wrong with my singing but considering he compared me to Tokiya…"

Tokiya is a human and even he got told the same thing as Ai was told meaning he truly lacked emotions to sing, a human being compared to a robot, wasn't a nice compliment most of the time, according to Professor.

"Have you tried singing just because?" Haruka asks.

"Just…because?" Ai asks.

That sounded rather unnecessary.

Ai wondered why his composer partner was asking this question. What was she trying to get out of this?

He expected her to ask another question when he saw that she looked a bit confused at his reaction, whatever face he was making. But instead, Haruka positions herself back towards the piano and starts playing a random tune.

The robot raises his brow? So is she going to ignore what he said? As Ai was about to top her playing she starts to sings much to his surprise. He blinks for the first few seconds but snaps back into reality quickly. As Ai could here, she wasn't a great singer at all, her rhythm is slightly off, articulation needs work, and her notes are slightly out of tune, so why was she singing for him?

He was going to turn off the hearing part of his settings so he could avoid her singing, but as he kept listening he noticed there was something, different. Her singing was grabbing his attention.

Ai remembers Hyuuga's words earlier today, "What gets CD's off the shelves is a song that hits right…"

His words trail off and instinctively touch the center of his chest with his right hand. Here, that's what Hyuuga said. The temperature of his chest felt slightly warmer, it felt like a worm was wriggling inside of him, and Ai was one thousand percent he didn't have anything that was biodegradable inside of him.

He hears Haruka finishes singing and looks over to him, "I don't think that was my best singing but I hope that helped."

Ai's head was still in the clouds trying to process what he was exactly feeling that he kept staring back at Haruka.

"Um, Mikaze-san? Are you alright?" Haruka asks, "You have your hand over your heart, do you feel sick or…?"

He realizes he still had his hand over his chest and quickly retracts it back down to his side.

"There's nothing wrong with me." He answers her bluntly.

"Ah, then that's good." Her gaze moves down to the ground, looking slightly down.

His partner should be happy that he was fine but she was down, which Ai didn't understand. To be sad is to have some outcome not come out the way they want it to be.

But Ai felt like he needed to say something, maybe try thanking her because she did say that she tried to "help" even though her singing skills weren't much of a helpful hand.

"Thanks." Ai said.

The composer's head snaps up and her face starts to brighten up, and with the brightest smile she says, "I'm glad that I was able to help!"

For some reason Ai thought this was funny and started to chuckle to himself.

Confused Haruka calls out his name, "M-mikaze-san?"

Haruka was an interesting human being, Ai thought. To be able to change her face so many times in so little time, it was quite the amusing sight. He thought maybe he could use her as a test subject for studying emotions.

"Okay," Ai says to get back into focus, "can we start again from the beginning?"

"Ah! Yes!" Haruka repositions herself on the piano seat.

There she goes again, Ai thought.

Then one question came up into his mind, "I wonder what makes her happy?"

Little did he know that he would find an answer to that question in a couple of weeks.

* * *

 **OKOKOKOK I'M SORRY FOR THE LACK OF UPDATES. I DIDN'T ABANDON THIS.**

 **But anyways, since for Utapri Repeat there were different things happening in June I decided to put up the singing test one first. Yes _first._ There's going to be a little fun time with HAYATO for the next chapter. HAYATO and Ai interacting, yes. **


End file.
